Comics in French

Whereas in English-speaking countries comics are for children or adults 'who should know better', in France and Belgium the form is recognized as the 'Ninth Art' and follows in the path of poetry, architecture, painting and cinema. The bande dessinée [comic strip] has its own national institutions, regularly obtains front-page coverage and has received the accolades of statesmen from De Gaulle onwards. On the way to providing a comprehensive introduction to the most francophone of cultural phenomena, this book considers national specificity as relevant to an anglophone reader, whilst exploring related issues such as text/image expression, historical precedents and sociological implication. To do so it presents and analyses priceless manuscripts, a Franco- American rodent, Nazi propaganda, a museum-piece urinal, intellectual gay porn and a prehistoric warrior who's really Zinedine Zidane.

Figures
Foreword
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Definitions and Component Parts
Chapter 3. Formal Specificity
Chapter 4. Pre-History
Chapter 5. The Nineteenth Century
Chapter 6. The Twentieth Century
Chapter 7. Contemporary BD
Chapter 8. Pop Art or Business Park?
Chapter 9. Consecration of the Ninth Art
Chapter 10. Cultural Studies and Beyond
Chapter 11. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index